Catholic theologians from the fourth century AD followed by protestant theologians of the Reformation, were embarrassed by the Bible and so developed an interpretation to ease their embarrassment.
Throughout the Law and the Prophets of the Old Testament there are many, many prophecies of the Jews being back in the land of Israel in a time of permanent restoration and blessing of God on the nation.
Our Lord Jesus has chosen to reveal Himself through the people of God, both Israel and the Church, Jew and Gentile.
The Jews Dispersed
However, the Roman Empire destroyed Jerusalem in 70 AD, and the Bar Kokhba revolt was put down in 135 AD. Jews were banned from Jerusalem which the Romans called Aeila Capitolina. The Jews were dispersed among the nations.
For centuries it was inconceivable, from a human point of view, that the Jews would be back in the land God gave Israel.
Embarrassed by God’s Word
And so Catholic theologians were embarrassed by God’s word. All those prophecies of the restoration of Israel couldn’t possibly come true. Therefore they created a new theology to explain away the prophecies by saying that they would be fulfilled in a “spiritual sense” in that the Church has replaced Israel in God’s purposes and plans.
A remnant of believers in Jesus always existed outside of the worldly institutions that claimed to be Christendom. And yet in the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries the Reformation developed as a great movement that returned to the truth of salvation by grace through faith alone in Christ alone and questioned many of the corrupt beliefs and practices of Roman Catholicism. One belief they did not question was Replacement Theology. The Reformers were also embarrassed by the word of God. There was no way God’s word could literally be true regarding the restoration of national Israel. The Reformers felt compelled to continue to spiritualize the prophecies about Israel.
The Nation of Israel
And yet… in the twentieth century the Jews began to return to the land and there was established a nation of Israel.
Miraculous!
There is no reason to be embarrassed by the word of God. Walking by faith and not by sight could have, from the beginning, resulted in Jesus’ true disciples saying, “Somehow, some way God’s prophecies will be fulfilled as written… without spiritualizing; without allegoricalizing.” Abraham knew that if he obeyed God, God could raise Isaac from the dead to fulfill His previous promises. Believers in Jesus have always been able to trust that God’s word would be fulfilled as written.
Believe God’s Word
The plain meaning of scripture is that God will continue to reveal His manifold wisdom through His people, the Church, both Jew and Gentile, and, in His timing, His people Israel.
David Baumgaertel on Romans 9, 10, and 11
Applying the Old Testament to the New Testament Church
Dave Hunt Refutes Calvinism. Calvinists Refute Dave Hunt.
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